There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.

The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.

It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.

What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.